Author
Topic: Help? (Read 5935 times)

I'm seeing some odd behavior when I try to access the Hotmail website from my home desktop (wired connection to the Internet gateway [cable modem/router]), and I'm hoping someone can help.

I'm using Google Chrome. For the past several days, the hotmail/outlook/live.com website can't be accessed, though sometimes several hours later or the next day, it will work for a period of time before becoming inaccessible. This is the only website I have trouble with.

When I try using Internet Explorer to go to "hotmail.com", it gets to the initial page (https://outlook.live.com/owa/), but won't connect to the sign in screen when I click "Sign in". (So I'm guessing the real problem is with "login.live.com".)

When I use my phone (connected wirelessly to the same gateway [cable modem/router] device) it accesses fine.

When I try to connect from my work office, it connects fine.

I've tried disabling all "Shields" on my Avast! antivirus and connecting, but it doesn't seem to affect anything. I don't see any relevant entries in HOSTS. And I'm feeling really old because I can't think of what else to check. Antivirus scan finds nothing.

Error msg:

Quote

This site can’t be reachedlogin.live.com took too long to respond.Try:

Checking the connectionChecking the proxy and the firewallRunning Windows Network DiagnosticsERR_TIMED_OUT

Thoughts?

And.. Thanks in Advance!!

Logged

+++++++++“In the outside world, I'm a simple geologist. But in here .... I am Falcor, Defender of the Alliance” --Randy Marsh

“The most effectual means of being secure against pain is to retire within ourselves, and to suffice for our own happiness.” -- Thomas Jefferson

#StandWithCovington"You don’t hand matches to an arsonist, and you don’t give power to an angry left-wing mob. Democrats have become too EXTREME and TOO DANGEROUS to govern. Republicans believe in the rule of law - not the rule of the mob. VOTE REPUBLICAN!"

I'm seeing some odd behavior when I try to access the Hotmail website from my home desktop (wired connection to the Internet gateway [cable modem/router]), and I'm hoping someone can help.

I'm using Google Chrome. For the past several days, the hotmail/outlook/live.com website can't be accessed, though sometimes several hours later or the next day, it will work for a period of time before becoming inaccessible. This is the only website I have trouble with.

When I try using Internet Explorer to go to "hotmail.com", it gets to the initial page (https://outlook.live.com/owa/), but won't connect to the sign in screen when I click "Sign in". (So I'm guessing the real problem is with "login.live.com".)

When I use my phone (connected wirelessly to the same gateway [cable modem/router] device) it accesses fine.

When I try to connect from my work office, it connects fine.

I've tried disabling all "Shields" on my Avast! antivirus and connecting, but it doesn't seem to affect anything. I don't see any relevant entries in HOSTS. And I'm feeling really old because I can't think of what else to check. Antivirus scan finds nothing.

Error msg:

Thoughts?

And.. Thanks in Advance!!

Whenever I have an issue on the pc, I plug in my problem and search for answers on various forums. Usually, somebody has the fix. You might try this site's suggestions...

I know. Chrome is not supported. Firefox gave up on it. IE Explorer opens with a blue screen. Avast laughs at it and wont update! I only keep it because it has all the MS Office Professional on it

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#StandWithCovington"You don’t hand matches to an arsonist, and you don’t give power to an angry left-wing mob. Democrats have become too EXTREME and TOO DANGEROUS to govern. Republicans believe in the rule of law - not the rule of the mob. VOTE REPUBLICAN!"

Whenever I have an issue on the pc, I plug in my problem and search for answers on various forums. Usually, somebody has the fix. You might try this site's suggestions...

Thanks, @XenaLee! I did do a search and tried what was suggested on a few sites, and it came back...temporarily. With the problem disappearing and reappearing a couple of times, I think it was just a coincidence.

I'm thinking my IP Address might be getting flagged by microsoft, and then unbanned...? Just one more hypothesis that I don't know how to check.

At least I run Win 7!

Logged

+++++++++“In the outside world, I'm a simple geologist. But in here .... I am Falcor, Defender of the Alliance” --Randy Marsh

“The most effectual means of being secure against pain is to retire within ourselves, and to suffice for our own happiness.” -- Thomas Jefferson

Thanks, @XenaLee! I did do a search and tried what was suggested on a few sites, and it came back...temporarily. With the problem disappearing and reappearing a couple of times, I think it was just a coincidence.

I'm thinking my IP Address might be getting flagged by microsoft, and then unbanned...? Just one more hypothesis that I don't know how to check.

At least I run Win 7!

If it works fine from your phone but not your PC, both going through your home router, I doubt it's M$ flagging your IP, since they will see the same IP either way (the IP of your router).

While it's trying, but before it fails, run this in a command prompt:

netstat -an | find "SYN"

And post the results.

I'd also try a different browser and see if it works consistently.

Looking at the hosts file was a good idea. I'd also check the network settings to see if the DNS server is set to something specific. And, since both applications and the OS often cache DNS entries, if you're getting bad info from somewhere that may explain why the problem comes and goes. I don't do chrome, so I can't speak to the correctness of the following (though I know the ipconfig /flushdns is totally safe), but...

Vista? Do you hop in your DeLorean and hit 88mph to go back and use it?

That's heavy.

Logged

#StandWithCovington"You don’t hand matches to an arsonist, and you don’t give power to an angry left-wing mob. Democrats have become too EXTREME and TOO DANGEROUS to govern. Republicans believe in the rule of law - not the rule of the mob. VOTE REPUBLICAN!"

Try uninstalling chrome, reboot and reinstall from the website. There is no fixing chrome as such. Altho if it is happening on multiple browsers it's more likely systemic. Are your NIC drivers up to date. Try reinstalling them. I think someone has already suggested resetting the IP stack. I've been doing desktop and server support since the early 80's and Vista is the worst. It is most likely operating system corruption. Were it a different OS, I would suggest a refresh, but it's truly hard to see the return on that kind of time investment for Vista.

Try uninstalling chrome, reboot and reinstall from the website. There is no fixing chrome as such. Altho if it is happening on multiple browsers it's more likely systemic. Are your NIC drivers up to date. Try reinstalling them. I think someone has already suggested resetting the IP stack. I've been doing desktop and server support since the early 80's and Vista is the worst. It is most likely operating system corruption. Were it a different OS, I would suggest a refresh, but it's truly hard to see the return on that kind of time investment for Vista.

Thanks. But I don't care about it. If I need to read an email I just fire up the other desktop in the room. It is a Dell that runs Windows XP Professional.

Logged

#StandWithCovington"You don’t hand matches to an arsonist, and you don’t give power to an angry left-wing mob. Democrats have become too EXTREME and TOO DANGEROUS to govern. Republicans believe in the rule of law - not the rule of the mob. VOTE REPUBLICAN!"

#StandWithCovington"You don’t hand matches to an arsonist, and you don’t give power to an angry left-wing mob. Democrats have become too EXTREME and TOO DANGEROUS to govern. Republicans believe in the rule of law - not the rule of the mob. VOTE REPUBLICAN!"

#StandWithCovington"You don’t hand matches to an arsonist, and you don’t give power to an angry left-wing mob. Democrats have become too EXTREME and TOO DANGEROUS to govern. Republicans believe in the rule of law - not the rule of the mob. VOTE REPUBLICAN!"

I installed Brave, and it behaves the same as IE...it sits and spins when I click the link to the signon page.

Okay, so much for the easy stuff. Probably. I've never been a windows guy, and haven't touched it in a few years, so maybe I got the syntax wrong. While it's "spinning", try just 'netstat -an' (I know that part is right) and look for anything that says 'SYN' just to be sure.

That would tell us if it was having trouble setting up the initial connection. Other possibilities are that it can't find the IP for login.live.com in the first place, or it is making the connection and something is goofed up after that. I'd try a combination of

netstat -an | find "443"

and

netstat -a | find "live"

preferably on both working and non-working machines. You need to do this pretty quickly after connecting.

On a working machine, you should see the same connection listed in each, one with login.live.com and one with the IP it is using.

Logged

My avatar shows the national debt in stacks of $100 bills. If you look very closely under the crane you can see the Statue of Liberty.

Actually, getting the output of those two commands from the "broken" machine, both when it is working and when it is not, might be even more useful.

Also, while thinking about this I came up with an idea for a virus. I'm not sure it's even realistic, but I'd change your email password and not login from the broken machine until you get this worked out (okay, maybe once to gather the above info, but then login and change it again from a working machine).

Logged

My avatar shows the national debt in stacks of $100 bills. If you look very closely under the crane you can see the Statue of Liberty.

Actually, getting the output of those two commands from the "broken" machine, both when it is working and when it is not, might be even more useful.

Also, while thinking about this I came up with an idea for a virus. I'm not sure it's even realistic, but I'd change your email password and not login from the broken machine until you get this worked out (okay, maybe once to gather the above info, but then login and change it again from a working machine).

I think that's it. I recall getting notification a few days before this started that my account has been compromised, and I changed the password. I'll do it again from work computer tomorrow. I'm running boot-level Avast! scan all night with heuristics set high. But before that I discovered that it seems like microsoft.com is also blocked. I put in Google DNS servers to no avail, and oddly, tracer login.live.com had timeout hops. Not sure what it all means and how to fix it.

Logged

+++++++++“In the outside world, I'm a simple geologist. But in here .... I am Falcor, Defender of the Alliance” --Randy Marsh

“The most effectual means of being secure against pain is to retire within ourselves, and to suffice for our own happiness.” -- Thomas Jefferson

I recommend using Googles 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4. Its fast and filters out most unsafe addresses. The down side is I'm sure Google tracks you via your DNS accesses. There's also Open DNS that I used for years but it goes down from time to time.

I think that's it. I recall getting notification a few days before this started that my account has been compromised, and I changed the password. I'll do it again from work computer tomorrow. I'm running boot-level Avast! scan all night with heuristics set high. But before that I discovered that it seems like microsoft.com is also blocked. I put in Google DNS servers to no avail, and oddly, tracer login.live.com had timeout hops. Not sure what it all means and how to fix it.

If you changed your password via a link from an Email that your account has been compromised - you may have done the compromising yourself... That's how they phish you. Never use a link in an Email to do something like that. Hopefully you didn't.

If you changed your password via a link from an Email that your account has been compromised - you may have done the compromising yourself... That's how they phish you. Never use a link in an Email to do something like that. Hopefully you didn't.

Dang it! You beat me to it! Always be leery of pop ups or emails that appear to be too helpful in that they say your machine has a problem and they can fix you up. And get in the habit of hovering your cursor over links and read the link to discern where you are actually going.

Logged

He who makes an attempt to enslave me, thereby puts himself into a state of war with me.

I think that's it. I recall getting notification a few days before this started that my account has been compromised, and I changed the password. I'll do it again from work computer tomorrow. I'm running boot-level Avast! scan all night with heuristics set high. But before that I discovered that it seems like microsoft.com is also blocked. I put in Google DNS servers to no avail, and oddly, tracer login.live.com had timeout hops. Not sure what it all means and how to fix it.

There's nothing wrong with traceroute not reporting every hop. Some network admins disable the response it needs to function.

Google DNS is one of the things I was considering recommended depending on the netstat output (of course, if this is a virus netstat could be corrupt, too).